Goblins and Comfort
by Labyrinth Runner
Summary: When things get rough, friends can be there.


It'd been a rough two weeks in the real world. That's why I didn't mind getting a visit from my friendly neighborhood goblin. I had been moping for days on end and decided to start working on my mock trial case since my first trial is next week and I'm the head lawyer. It was a torrential downpour outside, so it was a good a day as any to actually work on things. As I was typing up my cross questions, I heard a frantic knocking on the window. I looked up to see a drenched Boggy standing on the window sill, so I ran to get a towel, opened the window, and let him in. I dried the goblin off and set him down by the fire before realizing that I still had no idea what prompted this visit.

"Well, Boggy, what can I do for you?" I asked.

"King has seen what Abby posted on book of the face. King thinks Abby depressed."

 _Well, that's a new development. I didn't know that Jareth even knew of the internet,_ I thought. "And how does the King know what I post on Facebook?" I asked.

"King looked through crystal ball. Kristin showed King Abby's page in the book."

"Christian has Wifi?" _Why am I not surprised that he Facebook stalks me in his spare time?_

"What's a Wifi?" Boggy asked. I just shook my head.

"Well, you can tell them that I'm fine. Just. Fine," I said as I turned away. I wasn't fine. Not really.

"Okay!" Boggy said as he crawled out of his towel cocoon, saluted me, and vanished in a puff of smoke. _I can't believe I lied to Boggy about how I was feeling. I hate lying to Boggy, but the last thing I need is for him to worry about me,_ I concluded. I walked back over to my couch and decided to write some poetry to get my feelings out on paper. I hadn't noticed that I was crying until a stray tear hit the paper. Then, once I realized it, it was like a dam that had been keeping me together just broke. I was so absorbed in my own sadness that I didn't notice that I wasn't alone until I was hugged. I looked up and saw Christian standing there.

"You lied to the goblin," he said gently.

"If I told him otherwise, I don't know what would have happened. I didn't want him to see me like this. What are you doing here anyway?" I asked as he wiped the tears from my face.

"Boggy said you were fine, but I wanted to check. I had Jareth summon a crystal ball once the goblin was gone and we saw that you were crying. If Jareth had come, you would've had an army of goblins trying to comfort you, so we figured that we'd spare you that pity party and I came instead," he explained, "so do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Everything just feels like it's falling apart around me. I know how Sarah must have felt after she jumped down from the MC Escher room."

"What do you mean you feel like everything's falling apart?"

"The guy I like basically blindsided me and told me that he thinks I like him more than he likes me. He told people that he wanted to be my friend, but he's just avoiding me and ignoring me. He told me that he wasn't trying to push me away, but he's doing just that. It's killing me. I don't even care about dating him. I just want to be friends with him. I know he's been through hell, and I just want to help him. I couldn't sleep the other night and I spent two hours profiling him. I understand why he probably stopped liking me. Everyone kept bugging him about us dating, I guess eventually he'd get tired of it, but I didn't think that he'd cut me off in order to make it all go away. It hurts. It feels like I've been run over by a truck."

"Well, then he's stupid. You're a class act and anyone would be lucky to have you, as a girlfriend or just a friend."

"Thanks, Christian, I just. I don't know where I went wrong. I mean, if he had just told me sooner that there was a problem instead of letting it sit and become a bigger problem, then maybe this wouldn't have happened. It's been almost two weeks of him avoiding me and me trying to talk to him, and it feels like another little piece of me breaks every time I fail."

"Well, maybe, just this once, you should give up. You always fight. You fight for the people that you believe in and you who you want to be with. You always fight, but never once has anyone fought for you. If he really wanted you there, he wouldn't be doing this. You wouldn't have to try this hard. "

"So I should just let him win?" I asked.

"No one wins when there are feelings involved. There will always be one person left unsatisfied with how things ended. You're not winning anything if you keep going after this, and he doesn't win if you give up. He gets his freedom from whatever rumors have been bothering him, and you get to move on to someone who will actually love you in the way you should be loved. You may not be friends, you may act like strangers when you see each other, you may eventually talk again and move on together. No one can know that," Christian explained.

"Christian, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'd be crying and ruining your poetry because a guy decided to be stupid."

"Shut up," I said as I pushed his shoulder.

"So, is this the part where we watch chick flicks and eat a tub of ice cream and cookie dough to make the feelings go away?"

"Yes, yes it is. Do you prefer chocolate ice cream or strawberry?"

"Chocolate."

"Good, because the strawberry is mine."


End file.
